Our aim in 2019 is to share our love of and hopefully pass on our enthusiasm for watercolour to the younger generation!

Adults involved must be members of IWS Canada. Please let us know if you wish to join.

For Youths who wish to take part, please e mail iwscanada@gmail.com and we will pair you up with a member in your area.

To encourage youth today to discover and explore watercolour painting, this year IWS Canada would like each of its members (leadership team included) to find a youth (or youths) with whom to become their watercolour ‘Buddy’ for the year.

What qualifies as a “youth”?

The “youth” designation could range from anyone old enough to first hold a brush, to a young adult below the age of 25.You could nurture a friend or family member, a young neighbour and/or someone who already loves art, but maybe just hasn’t had much experience with watercolour yet .

How much will it cost to participate?

Participation is free for both IWS Canada members and their youth buddies. The only cost is your time which we really value you giving.

Why is it important to take part?

You would be encouraging creativity, establishing or extending a skill set,and promoting social interaction, as well as passing on your enthusiasm for watercolour to the next generation.

Kids and young adults alike always bring a unique and refreshing outlook to any project.You may even find the next well known Canadian Watercolourist.

What do you have to do?

To make this even more enjoyable, the IWS leadership team is planning an activity a month that you could do starting in March so you don’t even need to come up with an idea; just meet with your buddy or buddies, join in, and have fun, too.

There will be 10 activities, one each month between March and December; not a huge time commitment, but time well spent.

To limit the expense, IWS Canada is working on providing some materials for the youth contingent of our plan. More details will follow over the course of the year.

So make someone’s day! Ask them to be your watercolour buddy.

Look for someone whose interest you could spark! Let’s pass on the baton…or brush, in this case! And let’s get creative!

So:

If you are a member of IWS Canada, find your buddy then let us know who the buddy is and how old they are.

If you are a youth e mail us iwscanada@gmail.com and let us know you would like to take part

Sit back and eagerly await our first month’s activity which we will send you at the beginning of March.

The eBook is suitable for Amazon Kindle Fire®, Apple iPad®, Android devices, and Mac or PC computers. You’ll need to carefully follow the instructions in the email you’ll get (there are different links depending on what you want to read it on) and wait patiently for it to download. It is 151 MB in size (at least for the desktop version). Keep in mind, you have to have an ebook reader application on your desktop iMac if you want it to work there.

Artists’ Statements:

Bonnie Steinberg SCA, CSPWC, TWS

My watercolours encompass a variety of subject matter, with architectural detail, being my latest achievement. Ordinary “slices of life” are other choices for subject matter. My use of high-keyed colour and dramatic light are the trademarks of my work.
A recent exhibit of my work covered paintings ranging in a variety of subject matter, from Architecture, to landscape, to still life. The “passion” that I hope to convey through colour, design and light are the essence of my work. My objective could be summarized by the following passage:
“My visions encompass my views of the world and will aim to give the viewer a glimpse into this world. If this relationship occurs then the painting has been successful.”

Andrew Cheddie Sookrah CSPWC, OSA, SCA, PSC

All of my work is the result of an intense interview between my existence and that of my subject.
I would hope that the result be informed more by knowledge rather than mere belief.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew and Bonnie very much for their unique contributions to this multimedia presentation, which will be the closing event of our month-long exhibition. We are in for a treat! This event takes place at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.

If you would like more information about Andrew and Bonnie, they have graciously provided their bios below, or you can go to their websites (Andrew’s website ; Bonnie’s website):

ANDREW CHEDDIE SOOKRAH CSPWC, OSA, SCA, PSC

Andrew Sookrah

Andrew Cheddie Sookrah is a Canadian professional artist living and working in Toronto. He is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, Society of Canadian Artists (Lifetime, Mentor), Ontario Society of Artists, Portrait Society Of Canada.

Sookrah is a raw colourist whose free brushwork is confident and powerful. His strengths can be seen in his strong sense of design, exquisite use of effective composition, and confident presentation of bold colours.
His is a masterful expression of the unity of nature.

He has shown his Artist Project 2017, 2018, presenting work from painting trips to Sable Island, Killarney, Algonquin, the Canadian Arctic.

His body of work includes landscape, portraiture, figurative paintings, ceramic sculpture as well as conceptual / multimedia including “Can Religious Beliefs be Identified From Examining DNA?” Nuit Blanche 2012.

Sookrah’s work is in Corporate and Private Collections in Canada, the US and China.

TEACHING:
Andrew teaches painting in watercolour, acrylic, oil and at The McMichael Art Gallery (Kleinberg), the Richmond Hill Art School (Markham), Loyalist College (Belleville), The Town Of Richmond Hill, Luc Sculpture Art School (Toronto) and ARTiculations, (Toronto)

2018-1990 Toronto Watercolour Society – Aquavision Spring and Fall
2009, 01 Haliburton School Of Art, Faculty Show, Rails End Gallery
2007-01
2000 Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour – Open Water – John B. Aird Gallery
2000 Fourth Annual Members Show / Art Dialogue Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y., Western New York Artists’ Group
1999
Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour – 75th Anniversary Exhibition at the Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Society of Canadian Artists – Fall Show – John B. Aird Gallery
Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour – 75th Anniversary Exhibition at The Arts and Letters Club, Toronto

Our brave leader Ona Kingdon has been extremely busy these past few days, moving our exhibit out of Boynton House, re-organizing, and putting a selection of the paintings up at Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts in the Foyer, Lower East Side and Upper East Side Galleries (click for HOURS), in anticipation of the concert which will be held there to close the exhibit on October 27. Luckily she had some help from Tiina Price, Nola McConnan and Michelle Zikovitz for the physical work!

The paintings selected were those of the award winners, the invited guests, and people who contributed significantly to the event.

It’s lovely to see that no matter where we put this exhibit, whether it is in a heritage building with a homey, comfortable atmosphere, or in a modern, sophisticated theatre, the watercolour paintings look beautiful and add so much to the space they are in. See for yourself!

Here is how the exhibit looked at Boynton House:

Just before the opening…

And here is how it looks at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts:

Art has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. It brings people together and IWS Canada’s mission is to do just that – to unify those who live to create and also those who live to love art.

❤ Help us to spread some love around our world today ❤

I would like to thank 7 IWS Canada Symphony in Watercolour finalists, Lorraine Watry, Alexandra Bryska, Jan Min, Carrie Waller, Sun Jiangang, William Rogers and Lianne Todd who spent their time helping me to create this video. You are all AWESOME!!!

As noted in our last post, the entire exhibit is currently located at Boynton House in Richmond Hill (at Richmond Green). The exhibit at Boynton House will close as of October 15, when all paintings will be taken from there, and some will be selected to relocate to the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts.

In the meantime, there is plenty to enjoy at Boynton House and it would certainly be worth your while to get there before the end of this weekend! Our exhibit has been so popular that over 1100 people have visited as of Tuesday afternoon!

View the now over 90 paintings on exhibit, (combining those from Burr House as well.)

Experience the magic of Ona Kingdon painting live daily.

Try a watercolour activity this weekend.

See IWS Canada’s “Love Around the World” paint video preview.

Come join in the celebration of watercolour!

Notes from last weekend:

We had a wonderful day today letting the children of our local community in Richmond Hill experiment with Watercolour. Hope you enjoy looking through our Symphony in Watercolour Children’s album, just a small selection from all the paintings created at Boynton House on Richmond Green on Saturday the 6th and Sunday 7th October:

Thank you to Da Vinci Paint Co. for providing a few of your dot palettes for the children to experiment with. They LOVED creating their own #DaVinciMoment and to DeSerres for providing the paper for this activity. You are both AWESOME sponsors of our Symphony in Watercolour.

Just a note to keep everyone apprised of the current locations of our ‘A Symphony in Watercolour’ international exhibit. While up until today, paintings were at two locations, Boynton House and Burr House in Richmond Hill, the ones at Burr House are moving today to Boynton House, so that the entire exhibit will be located there.

Later on in the month, some of the paintings will be moving to the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, in anticipation of the special performance there at the end of the month (October 27).